You Raise Me Up
by Disenchanted Cynic
Summary: Two teens have come to band camp for the summer, each with profoundly different ideas on what their summer will be like. What happens when their paths cross? Includes clarinets, 110 degree weather, and a lot of good, old, teen heartthrob. SasuSaku
1. Chapter 1

**The Sound Of Music**

**summary**: Two teens have come to band camp for the summer, each with profoundly different ideas on what their summer will be like. What happens when their paths cross? Includes clarinets, 110 degree weather, and a lot of good, old, teen heatthrob. SasuSaku

**timeline**: the summer before the characters are going to be high school freshmen, so they're about fourteen

* * *

Chapter One

* * *

**_Welcome to Minato Namikaze State University!  
Home of the Ninjas!_**

"MNSU! MNSU!"

**_Parking for MNSU Summer Band Camp to the left.  
Please follow the red arrows._**

"MNSU! MNSU!"

**_Registration in the Konoha Music Wing, by the admin-_**

"MNSU! MNSU!"

"Sakura! Shut up and let me concentrate on my driving!"

"Sorry, Mom," a teen-aged girl with pink hair apologized sheepishly, "I'm just so excited about this summer!" she exclaimed, bouncing up and down in the passenger seat with her pent up excitement.

"Are you really serious about this?" her mother asked, giving Sakura a worried glance before turning a shiny, silver car into the spacious university's huge parking lot, "I mean, you're only fourteen, and this is a college campus, and you'll be staying in a dorm with a roommate that you don't know all summer and I'm so far away and-

"Mom!" Sakura interrupted, holding her hands up, "I'll be fine." '_Like you ever even gave me a second thought before.'_

"I still don't think this is a good idea. Your father and I shouldn't have let you come."

"You're just saying that because you hate that I'm in band," Sakura mumbled, brushing long strands of pink hair out of her face as she slumped in her seat and looked out the window miserably.

"Sakura, it has no point! Playing the clarinet isn't going to help you be successful! It's just a waste-

"- 'of my time, intelligence, and money' " Sakura recited back, already having heard this speech a thousand times, "But it matters to me. I love it. I don't care if you think music is a waste or not."

Sakura's mother rolled her eyes, "The only reason you're even here right now instead of at home with an algebra book is because you're paying for this yourself."

It was true. Sakura had busted her butt all summer and half the second semester of eighth grade just to go to this camp. Her parents could have afforded it as easily as a trip to the grocery store, but as if they would help her do something they loathed so strongly. She looked out the window with awestruck green eyes at Minato Namikaze State U's campus. It was so pretty and sophisticated and expensive looking, hell, it was expensive - and she was going to be a part of it, whether her busy, unsupportive parents liked it or not. It just screamed college with the grassy lawn, many huge, brick buildings, stone paths, and older students sitting on marble benches under leafy trees while drinking Starbucks. Sakura sighed and pressed her fingers to the window, "It was worth it - this is like a dream come true."

Her mother scowled darkly at the campus full of kids laughing and carrying black instrument cases as she twisted the steering wheel and pulled her vehicle into a parking spot. Sakura glanced at her mother from the corners of her eyes. Why did her parents hate her music so much? Actually, Sakura thought that if she's just made the money and come to band camp by herself without saying anything, her parents would never have even noticed that she was gone. They were too busy becoming rich to care about their pink-haired only child, unless music came up. Then she was usually banned from her clarinet and told to study, because her parents studied when they were teenagers, and look at how insanely successful they were now. Successful in everything but their relationship with their miserable daughter.

"Well, here we are."

* * *

"Stop it, Sasuke! For goodness sake, sit up and quit acting like that!" Mikoto Uchiha reproved her son, who was currently doing his best at sulking in the passenger seat of a glossy, black SUV speeding down the freeway. Sasuke was slumped in his seat, scowling, with his bangs obscuring his face and listening to the blaring rock music on his iPod at full volume.

_'I'm consciously unconscious  
Why am I filled with hate?  
I'd like to blame my parents  
I'm sure you'd do the same'  
-screaming-_

"Sasuke! Are you listening to me?!" his mother demanded, glaring at her younger son while trying to keep her eyes on the road. He just bobbed his head in time to the music and sulked, rubbing one of the fraying tears in the dark blue jeans he'd mercilessly taken scissors to.

Mikoto snatched the ear buds out of her son's ears, "Stop listening to this thing so loud! You're going to go deaf! You couldn't even hear me talking-

"Mom, cut it out," Sasuke muttered, slumping down even further in his seat and glaring at the dark haired woman beside him.

She leaned over and pulled him up by the collar of his shirt so that he sat up straight, "You stop acting like this, mister. You are going to this band camp whether you like it or not, and that's final! So stop acting like this about it."

Sasuke crossed his arms and kicked the instrument case containing his clarinet lying innocently below the seat of the SUV, "You and Dad know I don't want to go - why are you forcing me? I hate music," he spat.

"You don't seem to mind the rubbish on that iPod," Mikoto countered, "Sasuke, you are a musical prodigy, whether you like it or not. You are not going to waste your gift. I know you do well in school, but stuff like this is important too, kiddo. Believe it or not. Why, I'll bet after this summer, you'll have lots of new friends, and you'll just love your music, and you'll be excited about joining high school band next year!" his mother gushed, cheerfully patting her son's arm. Sasuke scowled and moved away from her touch.

"I hope you didn't bet too high then," he muttered, stuffing his iPod into his jeans. It did sort of give him headaches.

"You'll just love MNSU, Sasuke! Itachi's just a freshman turning sophmore there and he already loves it! It's very prestigious - la creme de la creme - and you'll come to college here too with your smarts! Look! Here it comes now!" Sasuke's mother gushed, pointing out the window.

**_Welcome to Minato Namikaze State University!  
Home of the Ninjas!_**

_'Ninjas? What the hell?!' _Sasuke thought to himself, but kept his face a polite dead-pan so his mother wouldn't get angry, which was a scary experience, especially in an enclosed vehicle with locks on the doors. He tried not to avert his eyes from the campus either, even though just the sight of the big brick buildings and grassy courtyards made him want to cringe. The only elegant, brick building he wanted to be pulling up to right now was the Uchiha Mansion, even if there was nothing to do there, which his parents were so quick to mention when they were trying to sell him on the idea of band camp. Still, he very well might rather be home alone and bored or stuck with annoying, perfectionist Itachi who was home for the summer, than at MNSU for band camp.

Why did his parents always do stuff like this? Sure they were probably trying to look out for him and help him, but he'd much rather try and take care of himself. Not to mention there was way too much pressure from his father, and on trying to live up to Itachi. They all noticed him a little too much.

**_Parking for MNSU Summer Band Camp to the left.  
Please follow the red arrows._**

"Well, here we are! You'll be here all summer, Sasuke!" his mother beamed at him, turning off the car.

_'Kill me. Oh, just kill me now.'_

* * *

**Aa, a new fic. Yes, I know - I should finish updating the others before starting a new one, but this felt like it simply had to be written. I really hope you guys enjoy it! It's going to be one of my first summer projects, and I'm really excited!**

**Please read and review, and tell me if you really want me to continue it, so I know whether I should just delete it or not. Thanks, guys! Please, some feedback. Much luch.**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Sound Of Music**

**summary**: Two teens have come to band camp for the summer, each with profoundly different ideas on what their summer will be like. What happens when their paths cross? Includes clarinets, 110 degree weather, and a lot of good, old, teen heatthrob SasuSaku

**timeline**: the summer before the characters are going to be high school freshmen, so they're about fourteen

* * *

Chapter Two

* * *

"Omigod! Omigod! Omigod! Eek!" Sakura shrieked, jumping up and down like a crazy person while her mother sighed and gave her an annoyed look. Sakura flushed slightly and tucked a lock of long, wavy pink hair (stupid flatiron wouldn't work this morning) behind her ear, looking around her with wide green eyes. She tapped her foot against the marble floor at a tempo faster than 230 on the metronome with all her pent up excitement, and her mother narrowed her eyes and glared. They were in the Konoha Music Wing, in line by the administration office to register for MNSU's band camp.

The building was gorgeous - exactly what Sakura thought a college music wing should look like. There were dozens of rich, heavy wooden doors with intricate designs embellishing them that lined hallway after hallway of the huge structure. Sunlight shone through the glass of the high, domed ceiling above them and gave the room that perfect mix of natural and artificial light. The floors were a shiny dark gray marble, flecked with both black and white. Oil paintings of all the great, famous musicians the university had produced in the past hung from the walls in between bulletin boards with notices stapled to them. It felt very academic.

The particular area where Sakura and her mother were waiting resembled the check in desk of a posh, luxury hotel. A tall, dark haired man with glasses stood behind the tall desk, writing. The shiny, gold name tag pinned to his black, long-sleeved, button-down shirt read "Ebisu". Sakura quickly committed this to memory. 'You never know who here could wind up the clarinet instructer, or a director.'

It's not necessarily empty in here either, though. As hinted at by the packed parking lot and crowds of kids with instrument cases, it was crowded. There were also only two lines that seemed to be registering for the band camp, but at least the one with Ebisu seemed to be moving pretty steadily. Still, it was quite a crowd. Even a few of the blasé college students there for the summer seemed to have worked up enough curiosity and were looking into the administration area through a glass wall that separated it from the rest of the music wing.

Sakura looked back at the glass wall that circled the area with interest. She could see the hundreds of doors and hallways that branched off this area, and she wanted nothing more than to explore it. She turned back to see the line and groaned.

'Ugh! Stupid line! Let's just count how many are ahead of us... um... dammit, thirty two! And each person seems to take roughly an average of two minutes so that equals... a really long time.'

'Grr. I hate lines. Stupid people - go away.' Inner Sakura grumbled.

'It'll be over soon enough - an hour of waiting is worth coming here.' Sakura sighed.

'Aa, but Sakura, it doesn't have to be an hour of waiting - let's explore this place! I know you're just dying to.'

'No! I can wait.'

'But it'll be booooooooring. Come on - you wanna have fun, don't you? Do something spontaneous and not goody-too-shoes for once, Sak.' Sakura's Inner moaned.

'Fine... but if we get in trouble...'

'Oh, lighten up.'

"I'm just going to (quietly) go look around, okay, Mom? Later," Sakura muttered softly, then took off to go explore some of those hallways. 'If Mom didn't hear that, she won't even notice I'm gone, and technically, I did tell her I was going.'

'Nice one!' Inner Sakura cheered 'Now, to go have some fun!'

* * *

Sasuke rolled his eyes and sighed as loudly as he possibly could.

"This is taking foreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeever. I'm sooooooooooooooo booooooooooooooooooored," he whined. Yes, the great Uchiha Sasuke is whining. You can tell he really doesn't want to go to this camp. He did sort of have a point, though - they had been waiting in line for about an hour, and Sasuke could still count at least forty people ahead of them. The guy at the desk seemed to be sick with a cough or something, which could be why this was taking so long. His name tag read "Hayate". Sasuke read it and thought about remembering his name and complaining to the school or reporting him or something. Just to be difficult.

The Uchiha groaned and looked at the other line, being run by some dorky guy with glasses. It was definitely moving faster.

"Aw, cheer up, honey! This isn't taking that long," Mikoto gushed cheerfully, pushing him playfully at the hip while keeping her eyes glued to the screen of her iPhone, where she was playing Battlestar Galactica. Sasuke scowled and took a couple steps away from her, crossing his arms. His mother rolled her eyes and snorted but otherwise gave no sign that she was paying attention to anything other than the little spaceships on the screen in front of her nose.

"Ugh... I'm so bored that the boredom will kill me!" Sasuke moped. He sent his mother a dark look as she failed to pick up on his not so subtle hints that he wanted to leave - now. With his dark bangs covering his face, the famous Uchiha Death Glare, his ripped up jeans and black t-shirt, he could actually look scary, but his mother just laughed. He scowled darker, but to her he was just her pouty little boy.

"Fine," Mikoto chuckled, "Take your iPod and wait on the couches over there instead. Before you die," she mocked, smirking to herself.

Sasuke stalked off to the nook of chairs and couches in a far off corner of the floor, muttering to himself. He slouched in a cushy, navy blue sofa, and raised the volume on his iPod.

"Oh, if you need me, I'm moving to the other line," his mother called after him, "Sasuke?" He was already past listening, bobbing his head to some song.

"... teenagers..." Mikoto muttered to herself, then continued her game of Battlestar Galactica, not looking up from the screen as she stepped into the other, faster line. A red haired woman in front of her glanced in her direction, then did a double take, turning around to face the black haired woman.

"Uchiha Mikoto?!"

Sasuke's mother jerked her head up from the phone's screen in surprise at a familiar voice. "Hatsumi? Haruno Hatsumi?!"

None other than Sakura's mother smiled as Sasuke's mother shoved her phone in her bag and they hugged and did the weird air kiss thing.

"What on earth are you doing here?" Sakura's mother asked once they broke away, gesturing to the building around them.

Mikoto grinned, "My son, Sasuke, the younger one going into high school, is going to come to the band camp that the university has here."

Hatsumi's eyes widened, "Small world. I was just dropping my daughter, Sakura, off for the same thing."

"You're kidding!"

They both sort of chuckled a little.

Mikoto glanced over to where her son was sitting, "Sasuke's a great kid, but he was pretty difficult about coming here for the summer. He really has a gift, but I think he'd rather do anything else in the world than use it. I don't know why."

Hatsumi smirked, "I wish we could trade the attitudes of our kids, M. I really hate Sakura doing this 'music' thing - it's useless and a waste of time. I want her to be successful in business and make a great living, like us, but I've never seen anyone love music more. She even raised the money to come here herself, because I wouldn't encourage it."

Mikoto smiled, "Ah, H, we're opposites as always. I can hardly believe we've been best friends since college."

"Yeah. It's been awhile since we've seen each other, eh? The last time was Sarutobi Asuma and Yuhi Kurenai's engagement gala, wasn't it? We ought to get a drink later and catch up."

"Definitely," Sasuke's mother agreed, tucking a lock of long, black hair behind her ear as she waited while Sakura's mother turned back around and had her turn at the registration desk. She registered Sasuke, and fell back into step with Hatsumi.

"Well, good seeing you, H."

"You too, M. Daiquiris later?"

"Definitely."

They did the air kiss thing and walked away from each other, grinning from the surprise encounter and went to find their kids.

Sasuke was already walking towards his mother, flipping through songs on his play list. He looked up at her through his bangs and hit the pause button.

"Who was that?" he asked, walking beside her as they headed back towards Mikoto's black SUV in the parking lot to bring back Sasuke's luggage.

"Oh, no one, sweety, just an old friend," Mikoto said, putting a hand on Sasuke's back as they went down the music hall's stone steps and squinting as they stepped into the sunny, bright parking lot.

"Hn."

"She was registering her daughter for camp too. She's your age I believe. Isn't that funny?"

* * *

Sakura reappeared just in time to see her mother finish registering, hug a slightly familiar looking black haired woman, and start walking around impatiently, like she was looking for someone - cough- Sakura.

"Hi," Sakura smiled sheepishly, raising a hand as she walked towards her mother, who narrowed her eyes as she saw where her daughter was walking out from, "Who was that woman you were talking to?"

'She seems familiar somehow...'

"Old college friend. You don't remember the Uchihas? I thought you'd met them at least once. Uchiha Fugaku who owns-

"Right, right," Sakura muttered, stuffing her hands in her pocket as they started walking back towards the parking lot. 'Must be more stuck up, rich friends - those are the only people Mom ever introduces me to.'

"Mikoto was just signing her son up for camp. He's your age."

"Oh." 'Great. No doubt another stupid, snobby guy that she expects me to hang out with.' Because she just so needed an arrogant bastard to ruin her summer.

* * *

**Hey, readers. Hope this story is satisfactory. I really don't work on it a lot though, sorry. Not that I've quit it or anything. Random shout out to Josh Groban, whose amazing voice succeeds in totally making everyone else's voice sound like crap. This is for you, Joshie. He has inspired the title of this lovely, little story.**

**Thanks for all the feedback, guys. Much love.**

**Josh: Much love.**

**Coraline: Dude, that's my thing. I say it at the end of like EVERYTHING I ever publish. Ever.**

**Josh: ... sorry.**


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